Flying Buddha and the Quixotic Autumn

Hi guys and gals!

Hoping that the spring most of you are enjoying feels refreshing and smells delicious!   It's been rainy here too,  but without the promise of hot summer days ahead.  My body doesn't get it.  

The days are getting shorter, yet the flowers continue to bloom. No comprende. 

I'm looking ahead to only three more weeks of classes,  then finals,  then pretty much straight away headed back to the states! 

May is NZ music month.  Check out any of these guys! 

It's probably a little to early to start waxing poetic about how this experience has been,  so I'll save or for a later blog.  In the mean time I'll take note of a few things of varying interestingness.
In my " Maori health perspectives" class I'm learning about the deep importance of family as am aspect of health.  We watched a fantastic documentary about a Maori family with a genetic disorder.  Through very pressing times,  whanau (Pronounced:pheynow) are the well of strength. 

I'm coming to enjoy statistics more every day.  It doesn't come easy to me,  but the examples we use in classes come from real life scenarios,  which is very cool.  I imagine all the ways I could use stats in my own life. 

As always,  food is a favorite subject for discussion.  Purple cabbage is my choice pick veggie right now.  Oh yeah,  I forgot to mention that carrots are very tasty here: always sweet,  never with that bitter taste.  

Is this paleo?! *flexes arm muscle*

I've been taking action to get stronger.  The Rec center offers a variety of free classes every day,  so despite my urge to hermit away,  I just can't pass up the opportunity for free motivation.  Aside from fitness classes,  I went to a Buddhist meditation and also am acrobatic yoga workshop last week. They were both refreshing and interesting!

Proud to announce I was climbing across the wall race champion! 

The only thing better than doing yoga, is having someone else do yoga for you! Heheheh

Flying buddha! 

Wishing you health and wellness in the most robust sense of the term. 
Love,
Darwin

On Climbing Mountains

I am so inspired by this quote from Robert Pirsig, author of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle maintenance.  

“Mountains should be climbed with as little effort as possible and without desire. The reality of your own nature should determine the speed. If you become restless, speed up. If you become winded, slow down. You climb the mountain in an equilibrium between restlessness and exhaustion. Then, when you’re no longer thinking ahead, each footstep isn’t just a means to an end but a unique event in itself. This leaf has jagged edges. This rock looks loose. From this place the snow is less visible, even though closer. These are things you should notice anyway. To live only for some future goal is shallow. It’s the sides of the mountain which sustain life, not the top. Here’s where things grow.” P199 - Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

October 2013 Trip to Jackson, WY for some backcountry snowboarding

Back from Spring (Fall) Break!

Apologies for keeping this blog in the dark for a few weeks now!  Blogging is kind of like keeping a garden and planting mint: if you don't keep up with it, the more time that passes, the more and more behind you get!

I like to keep these short on words and heavy on pictures, so although much has transpired in the last 2 weeks, I'll sum it up as this:

3 weeks' break from school! Yay! 7 of us gals have had a week-long trip plann in the works since early March. As stressful as it was to decide so far ahead of time what exactly our route would be, book hotels and car rentals, it was definitely worth the effort. The trip went pretty much without any major bumps-- no nights of hobohood, nor day transportationless.

I was surprised how easily 7 of us fit in a regular old Toyota van. That thing was a trooper! It was definitely working hard as it chugged up and over Arthur's Pass, and I was worried about the brakes going out on us as we careened down towards Queenstown, but it was a little rebel and it hung in there like a pro!

Our route was this:  Christchurch--->Hokatika --> Fox Glacier (prounounced glay-shee-uhr, btw)---> Franz Josef Glaysheeuhr ---> Lake Wanaka ---> Queenstown ---> Milford Sound ---> back home to Christchurch under the starry skies.

If google maps told us our route would be a 3 hour drive, we could expect it to take us 5.  That's a good thing!-- a group of like-minded A.D.D folk wanna stop for just about every snail on the side of the road.

It was so great to get out of the scholarly brain fog.  Between the cozy, winding mountain roads and my newest acquisiton, TinkerBill (an angelic ukelele), anxiety dreams about missing school assignments/ failing / etc disappeared after only 2 nights!  Talk about some potent medicine.

The Mark Twain quote is pertinent:  “I have found out that there ain’t no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them.” – Mark Twain, Tom Sawyer Abroad

Luckily I found that I liked my travel companions.  Yet 8 days was plenty!  Also, there is a quote floating around somewhere about how the unfortunate part about traveling is that you still bring you along! It stands in contrast to that fantasy of total escapism.  Lots of days, especially the cloudy / cold ones, felt like I was wallowing around in my shadow wondering what the heck, why were all of my imperfections tagging along for the ride!

So, I'm proud to say that I learned a lot in those 8 short days. I hope to find a moment to recount a few of my favorite experiences in another post:
-somehow still commiting to skydiving over Queenstown after watching one of the skydive "masters" trying to figure out a malfunctioning electric sliding glass door
-sitting at Lake Wanaka feeling like living in a dream
-Sheffield's meat pie song
-giving travel companion Rachel a haircut using eyebrow scissors (and it turned out BEAUTIFULLY!)
-making friends with a duck who loved the sounds of my ukelele
-a bright orange moss lining the river rocks in Milford Sound was so illuminous that it looked like the whole riverside was spraypainted construction orange
-Wille Nelson On the Road Again lyrics: "On the road again… going places I have never been.. seeing things that I may never see again… I just can't wait to get on the road again."
-school anxiety dreams replaced by dreaming in mountains

I miss home, the creature comforts and the familiarity. But the wise words of my friend Nathalie echo in my head: "home will always be there waiting for you."  And those of my momma who ponders about feeling at home inside ones self, regardless of the pillow you're resting your head on.

xoxoxox

beginning the treat at Villa Sumaya

Propitious Arrival at Lake Atitlan 

We arrived last night, a boatload of scraggly dagglers,  just in time for a miraculously colorful sunset boat ride across Lake Atitlan. Moreover, a sumptuous dinner had been laid across the tables just minutes before our arrival: Chile Rellenos! 

A number of travel snafus had delayed our travel by a few hours. But it was so comforting to be on the shuttle with 5  friends-to-be.  The simple question "where are you from?" rarely has a simple answer.  Thus, my faith in the sheer randomness of life's journey is restored.  The selfish "should-be's" that weigh down a significant portion of my child - like curiosity of the world ("I should have this job,  this partner, know this and that...") do not serve any purpose. As it is revealed that there is no right way to do this life thing, my worries of striving towards those "should be's" is replaced with enquiry into "how to's". 

It comes as no surprise that I resonated with this observation from Anodea Judith in her book, "eastern body, western mind": 

"without grounding we are unstable. We lose our center, fly off the handle, get swept off our feet, or daydream in a fantasy world. We lose our ability to contain, which is the ability to have and to hold. If we cannot contain, we cannot hold our boundaries and build our inner power ; thus, we cannot mature. Boundaries allow the hermitic seal necessary for transformation.      Without boundaries, natural excitement gets dissipated and diluted and becomes ineffectual. When we our ground our attention wanders and we appear vague and insubstantial.

                                                

The healthy establishment of one's ground is the essential work for the first chakra and the foundation for any further Growth. Here lies the basic rights of the first chakra: the right to be here and the right to have what we need in order to survive." (Anodea Judith)

Ashleigh led a beautiful yoga practice this morning. The studio has three fully - windowed walls which overlook Atitlan. Across the lake, it appears that Taos mountain has transplanted itself and gone under the guise of a volcano.  The element of the first chakra, muladhara, is earth, so some of the prompts I found particularly helpful was to imagine my feet and hands sinking into the mud. The muladhara is located mostly in the pelvis, and is the area responsible for grounding. 

Grounding into lake Atitlan

Often times a deficient or excessive movement of energy through this chakra will be compensated with intellect. It is the chakra of feeling the biological reality of existence,  which  is a great way for me to shift my perspective. Some things just have to be felt to be understood. 

Not 4 days ago, I was sitting in front of a computer at a Kaplan testing center in Santa Fe, duking it out in my brain, running full speed ahead in an attempt to garner an impressive score on the GRE.  It is so refreshing to be in a space where it doesn't matter a lick how well my brain can manipulate numbers or choose the most fitting adjectives (that, if used in real life, would be as useful in communication as gurgling and spitting up soda). What is that saying? From Jack Kornfield,s "Little Buddha Companion book":  “In the end these things matter most: How well did you love? How fully did you live? How deeply did you let go?” and from the b-man himself: " Admirable friendship, admirable companionship, admirable camaraderie is actually the whole of the holy life." (Taken from fakebuddhaquotes.com) <<<funny site by the way.

Traveling tends to magnify all human emotions.”

- Peter Hoeg

I don't know who this Hoeng guy is, but he seems to have some insight into my experience.

The process of getting all my ducks in a row has been a two-fold challenge. First, I had to procure said ducks. Second, they tend to waddle off at random. When you have one or two ducks--no prob, Bob;  up but when your flock reaches a dozen or so, it starts to get a little unnerving.

But! Here I am, spending my last night in the comfort of my super cozy bed. I have successfully applied for the study abroad program through UNM, and have been accepted as an international exchange student at the University of Canterbury, in Christchurch, New Zealand.  My preliminary schedule is all set. My passport sits at attention on my shelf, fat with the hologram of my glorious and insanely necessary student visa. Next to it sits a Lonely Planet guidebook mottled with blue post-it notes, delineating the beginnings of adventyres yet to come.  Thick printed itineraries are waiting in my backpack because I don't trust in my ability to procure digital proof of the flights if something comes up.  A 10'x20' storage unit is peacefully resting in Taos, sated with boxes full of ex-room decors, books, collected letters, skis, bikes, and clothes.

 

This is everything I want to bring. Including un-enthused dog.

The hardest part will be saying peace out to my pup. Although she is currently blissfully farming to the point that i'm nearly nauseous, I still can't imagine leaving her home.  I'll miss her right down to the stanky rips.

We took a wonderful hike on our fave go-to in Taos: Devisadero Trail

Paring down my closet to fit into 2 carry on suitcases hasn't been a walk in the park. I bought these awesome vacuum seal bags that are really helping to transform my bags into dense bricks of clothes-and-no-air, but even so... Ito a challenge to not bring every awesome piece of clothing I own!!

Here's the packing list Nathalie sent me:

• 3 pants

• 1 shorts

• 1 skirt

• 5 t shirts

• 3 long sleeve

• 2 button up

• 2 dresses

• Socks

• Undies

• 3 shoes

• 1 winter jacket with boots                  

• 1 rain jacket with rain shoes

Aaaaaand.... here's what I ended up with:

• 6 pants
• 2 shorts
• 0 skirts
• 10 +/- 3 t-shirts
• 2 long sleeves
• 2 button up
• No socks or undies
• Jk
• 5 dresses :-/
• 6 shoes?!?! :-/
• 1 winter jacket with boots (which were included in the shoes count)
• 1 rain jacket

 So, tomorrow I move out completely. I'm feeling some strange mixture of contentment and anticipation.  But i'll rest well knowing that no matter what happens,  I'll have plenty of pants.

Xoxo